


This Is Inspired by Cats (2019)

by okemmelie



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, idk - Freeform, it's kind of angsty but also it's not ?????, starkid writes discord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22324624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: On Charlotte and Sam's 10th anniversary, Ted tells her something that ends up changing her life in an unexpected way.
Relationships: Charlotte/Sam (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	This Is Inspired by Cats (2019)

**Author's Note:**

> i watched cats (2019) and couldn't get the songs out of my head, so i knew i had to write something based on them.  
> also this (kinda) works for the starkid writes discord's two themes of the week: memories and change. it was specifically written for memories because uhhh. cats.

The workday is coming to an end and Charlotte can feel her body buzzing with excitement. It’s her and Sam’s wedding anniversary and they have plans for dinner. Nice plans, in fact. They’re going to a new restaurant, one in Clyvesdale, and Charlotte is beyond excited. It’s a bit expensive for their budget, but she’s saved up and she’s made the reservation and she’s excited to go out with her husband for the first time in a long, long time.

She should be doing work, but there’s so many things she’d much rather do. Like fake being sick and asking Mr. Davidson to go home early, but really just stop by and surprise Sam at work like she’s done before. It's been a while since she’s last done that, sure, but it’s their wedding anniversary and maybe it’s just what they need. A little more excitement and surprise.

Then she remembers that Sam doesn’t like surprises all that much anymore and that an hour of work is money. Money they need. She goes to get a cup of coffee in the breakroom instead.

As she’s in the middle of making it, someone sneaks up on her. Not just anyone. Ted. Of course it’s Ted, it’s always Ted. He presses his chest against her back and wraps his arms around her waist. Had this been any other day, Charlotte probably would have leaned into his touch. But not today. Today is different.

She holds up her hand, her finger, the one with the wedding ring. “Married.”

It makes him laugh. It doesn’t make him step back. “You were also married last weekend,” he whispers. She can feel his breath on her neck and while yesterday’s Charlotte would have melted right then and there, today’s Charlotte is stronger. “Didn’t hear you complaining about it then.”

“That was last weekend.” The coffee finishes and she pours some in her cup. Then she turns around in Ted’s arms and looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to move?”

He shrugs and still doesn’t move. “I don’t know. Are you coming over tonight?”

She shakes her head and offers him a smile. It’s a bit colder than she’s used to, but she really wants to get it across to him that she’s better than this, than him. “Can’t. I have a date tonight. With Sam. My husband Sam, you know him?”

“Know of him. He’s supposedly pretty shitty. So I fucked his wife.” Ted’s smirking and Charlotte is not having it. She rolls her eyes and pushes past him, quickly making her way back to her cubicle while ignoring his calls after her.

Mentally, she’s done working for the day, but she finds some papers to mindlessly look through while she drinks her coffee and hopes it’s alright. She’s on phone duty if anyone happens to–

 _Ring, ring_. The phone rings. She answers it. “CCRP Technical, this is Charlotte.”

On the other side is Sam. Hearing his voice makes her smile. Then it doesn’t. “Hey, so listen. I’m going to be home late tonight, so it would be nice if you could have dinner ready by nine thirty, maybe ten.”

“But sweetheart–”

“No, Charlotte. No buts. I know it’s late for you and you can eat alone if you want to, but I’ve had a long day and I’d really appreciate it if–”

She cuts him off. She feels like she needs to or she might explode. “What about our dinner? Our anniversary dinner. We were supposed to go out tonight.”

The line goes silent. She knows Sam still on there, but he isn’t saying anything and neither is she. She wants to start crying, but she’s at work. It wouldn’t be professional. Eventually, Sam clears the silence by coughing. “Don’t bother with dinner. I’ll see you at eleven.”

“But Sam–” He hangs up. He hangs up on her and for a long time, she just sits there, phone in hand and mouth slightly open. When she finally gets around to putting the phone down, she instinctively reaches out for the pack of cigarettes she has in the pocket of her jacket.

She’s almost gotten around to lighting it up when someone grabs both the cigarette and the lighter out of her hands. She turns around. It’s Ted again. “No smoking inside.” And then he doesn’t give it back. He puts the cigarette into his mouth and starts making his way outside.

Charlotte sighs. Then she puts on her jacket and follows.

When she gets outside, he’s already lit up his – well, her – cigarette, so he hands her back her lighter. Then he casually leans against the wall and looks at her with this smug smile on his face. “So about tonight?”

She takes him home. She knows she shouldn’t, but Sam’s already ruined their anniversary and it’s not like sleeping with Ted one more time is going to mend what’s already broken.

He fucks her in her bed, her and Sam’s bed, and when they’re done, Charlotte feels a tear running down her face. She tries her best to make sure Ted doesn’t notice, but it’s Ted. He notices.

“You’re crying.” He’s never been afraid to state the obvious. He shifts a little closer to her and then gently wipes the tear from her cheek. “There we go. What’s happening? You don’t usually cry.”

“You should go.” Her voice is barely a whisper, but she means it. He really should.

He shakes his head, because if there’s one thing Ted hates it’s listening and doing things the easy way. “Absolutely not. You’re crying. I’m not leaving you while you’re crying.”

“I’m not crying.” She wipes her eyes herself this time and then gives a nod towards the door, hoping it makes him leave. It doesn’t. Of course it doesn’t. So she sighs and falls into his arms instead. “It’s Sam.”

He nods and presses a small kiss on top of her head. It’s oddly nice and comforting. It’s almost like being with Sam. Not her Sam, though. Past-her’s Sam. “What did he do?”

While part of her wants to just shake her head and tell him nothing, Sam did nothing, she can’t get herself to do it. She ends up talking about her feelings instead and it’s strange, but freeing. “Today’s our anniversary. We’ve been married for ten years. We were supposed to go out for dinner, but… he forgot.”

“You should leave him.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “No, I shouldn’t. He’s my husband. I love him. We’ve been through so much together. We’ve been so happy together. And we can be happy again.”

Ted laughs. It’s not the usual harsh laughter she’s used to from him. Instead it’s soft. She can almost hear the pity in it. “Leave him. Leave him while you still have happy memories. Don’t let yourself become a ghost.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. I watched Cats recently. There was this song and–” He stops in the middle of his sentence to shake his head. “Listen, it doesn’t matter. I think what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t live your life through memories of when things with Sam were better, in the hopes that things will return to how they once were. ‘cause they’re not gonna. And you’re just wasting your time.”

She wants to tell him that she isn’t. Things _will_ get better, because she wants them to. But she’s been telling herself that for so long now. And Sam’s forgotten their anniversary. And it isn’t the first time. And it hurts. “I– you need to leave. I have some things I need to think about.”

For the first time in all the time Charlotte’s known Ted, he just nods and leaves without argument. It’s strange, but it’s also nice and refreshing.

Sam comes home late and Charlotte pretends to be asleep when he does. He doesn’t even check to see if she’s awake, doesn’t say anything. He just crawls into bed and falls asleep. He used to always kiss her goodnight, he used to spoon her at night, but now he was all the way on the other side of the bed and it feels like they’re miles and miles apart.

It’s strange. He’s off for the weekend and he sticks around at home and it’s the longest time they’ve spent together for as long as she can remember.

She can’t help but keep Ted’s words in the back of her mind as they go about their day. She’s not a ghost, she tells herself as she cheerfully says good morning to Sam in the bathroom and tries to kiss him. But he turns his face and she ends up kissing his cheek instead.

He doesn’t smile. But he does mumble good morning back and it’s something.

They go about their day and with every single interaction, Charlotte finds herself acting like things are fine between them. Like nothing’s changed, like they’re still young and in love. Because she _is_ in love with him. She has to be.

But not Sam. Sam doesn’t act like anything but himself. Or well. His present self. He’s cold and distant and he goes about his day, mostly ignoring Charlotte’s affection. It’s like it usually is when they’re together, but it hurts more because now she’s aware.

She’s a ghost, stuck trying to relive the past that’s already long gone and while she wants to pretend Sam’s ghost is also around, he’s moved on. And she’s left loving nothing but her stupid memory.

On Monday, Sam’s back at work and it’s fine, because Charlotte doesn’t actually feel like being around him. It’s certainly a different feeling, but she thinks she likes it. She corners Ted at work and asks him if he wants to go to the CinePlex with her in the evening. He says yes without asking what they’re going to watch and she appreciates him for it.

She comes home late and Sam yells at her. “You can’t just come home late and not tell me where you’ve been,” he tells her.

And to that, she just shakes her head. “Actually, I can.”

“Excuse me?”

“This is going to sound strange, but just– please listen to me for once, okay? I want you to know that this…” She hesitates. Is she really going to do this? “This is inspired by Cats, the 2019 one: We need to get a divorce.”

**Author's Note:**

> when i got the idea for this a million years ago (ok the first week of the year but shh) it wasn't supposed to actually have anything to do with cats (2019), but then i ended up deciding that my working title should also be my actual title and this ended up happening..... writing is wild and uhhh yeah. that's how my life is going


End file.
